Who is Zhang Shuai? How Chinese veteran stunned Emma Navarro for second straight year
Thirteen months ago, Zhang Shuai was on what is widely considered to be the worst losing streak of the Open Era.
Defeat to Diana Shnaider at the 2024 Cincinnati Open last August was a historic 24th loss in a row for the 36-year-old, having last won a match in February 2023 before that point.
Down at 595th in the WTA Rankings, little was expected of Shuai heading into her home event at the China Open in Beijing, though a strong opening-round win over McCartney Kessler finally brought her losing streak to a close last September.
And, that was then followed by one of the most incredible wins of her career, the Chinese stunning world No 8 Emma Navarro in straight sets — almost out of nowhere.
A year on, and history has repeated itself at another WTA 1000 event in China — the Wuhan Open — with Shuai rallying from a break down in the decider to beat Navarro 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in round-one action.
The gap between the rankings is less significant this time, with Navarro ranked 14th and Shuai ranked 142nd, but it is undoubtedly another big shock.
“I’m pretty calm when I during the match, no matter what score,” said Shuai after her win.
“Sometimes like today, 2-1, already break and then I lost another eight games on 2-6 to lose the second set, then 3-0 down.
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“I mean, I try to keep my energy up, and I try to keep my physically try to be better and better, because here really hot and humid.”
Turning 37 next January, there are few who can rival Shuai’s experience on the WTA Tour.
The Chinese has won three WTA Tour singles titles and reached a career-high of world No 22 in January 2023, right before the start of her losing streak, alongside progressing to the quarter-finals at the 2016 Australian Open and 2019 Wimbledon Championships.
She is also a former Australian Open and US Open women’s doubles champion, reaching a high of world No 2 in the doubles rankings back in 2022; she is currently still ranked as high as 14th.
Some would think there is little left for someone so experienced and accomplished to learn, but Shuai is still looking to take in new information at every step.
At this year’s China Open, she was unable to match last year’s resurgent run to the quarter-final, falling in the third round to world No 4 and eventual champion Amanda Anisimova.
After a competitive opening set, Shuai faded in a 7-6(11), 6-0 loss, and is taking plenty of learnings from the result.
She added: “After I played against Amanda, I have a lot of new feelings. I mean, I can improve myself more and more.
“I mean, yeah, before playing against her, I was already watching a lot of her play. She’s my favourite tennis [player]. I mean, the style, so I try to play like her, but still very far.
“But I mean, I’m happy I changed a lot my tennis, so that’s why I still can play at this age. So that’s I always want to tell everyone: Don’t be scared of anything. Just do what you want.
“You know, don’t be scared. Don’t be nervous, don’t be scared to change. So if you don’t change, it’s never going to get better.
“So, I mean, last two three years I have not really [had a] good two, three years, I lost a lot of matches. But before that, I won a lot of matches. I mean, my ranking [was] around 20 to 30 long time. But I feel not good enough. I feel I want to be better.
“When I [am] talking to my team, my coach, I feel like, if I keep going, I can keep this ranking top 30, but no feeling makes me happy, you know, I want to change everything.
“So a lot, coach or player, when they talk to me now, they say: ‘Oh my God, you’re totally different. What are you doing? How? How do you change like this at this age?’ So, I mean, I’m super happy.”
Having beaten Navarro in the opening round, Shuai will now return to court in the second round against fellow tour veteran Sorana Cirstea, who progressed to round two after Jelena Ostapenko’s retirement.
It will be a tough test for the 36-year-old, but one she will undoubtedly be ready to face — especially if she adopts the same mantra that guided her over the finish line versus Navarro.
“Today’s match and scoreline were just like my life: not smooth sailing every day. When you’ve been through so many highs and lows in life, whatever happens on court no longer feels unacceptable or strange.
“I think I did very well in staying calm, composed, positive, and optimistic throughout — whether I was leading or trailing. My mindset stayed consistent: just be myself and fight for every point.”
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